From Bauhaus to Pond Farm

This is an organized small group tour for our Design Bay Area Community. A significant portion of your ticket goes directly to support Pond Farm.

If you recently visited the Ruth Asawa exhibition at SFMOMA, you may have seen the section with Marguerite’s work because they were friends!

Immerse yourself in the history and natural beauty of this significant cultural site, designated a National Historic Landmark. Learn about the dreams and challenges of internationally renowned ceramicist Marguerite Wildenhain, the first woman to graduate from the Bauhaus as a Master Potter. For more than 30 years, Pond Farm was Marguerite’s home, school, and studio where she taught hundreds of students in the Bauhaus tradition.

This is a docent-led history tour in Armstrong Woods approx 40 minutes southwest of Healdsburg. Please wear appropriate shoes for walking in the woods and for touring historic buildings! Make this your first stop on your way to Design Healdsburg and tour the grounds with fellow design community members.

Give yourself enough time to find the location, park and walk to meet up with the group. Also give yourself enough time to get to any afternoon events in Healdsburg because it is a bit of a distance away. A car is needed to get to this location.

IMPORTANT: READ BEFORE YOU GO:

• Meet at the Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods Volunteer Center at the back of Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, about a mile past the kiosk at the park entrance. No need to pay the vehicle day use fee at the entrance; it is included in your tour fee.

  Once past the kiosk, keep RIGHT until you reach a multi-way intersection. Turn RIGHT along the narrow road following the creek, passing a large stump and bathrooms (on your left) into a parking lot with two large cargo containers. The Volunteer Center is on the left side of the lot. DO NOT DRIVE UP THE HILL to Pond Farm! We will carpool up together after everyone has been checked in. (In fact, carpooling from Healdsburg would be a good idea, to reduce parking spaces required in the park.)

• The address for Armstrong Redwoods is 17000 Armstrong Woods Rd, in Guerneville. Start location on Google Maps:https://goo.gl/maps/NPrkbzUEpceTSoHFA

  There is a wheelchair accessible bathroom, but otherwise only part of the tour is wheelchair acessible– in particular, the interior of Marguerite’s studio in the historic barn is not. The paths are dirt/dried grass on sloping terrain, so we recommend wearing sturdy shoes. It can also get quite warm once the morning fog burns off, so we suggest bringing along a hat and water; there is no drinking water available at the site.

  No dogs are allowed at Pond Farm other than seeing eye dogs.

Marguerite Wildenhain

Pond Farm Pottery is significant for its association with the mid-twentieth century American Studio Pottery Movement and represents the life, work, and personal philosophy of renowned Bauhaus trained master potter Marguerite Wildenhain. Between her arrival at Pond Farm in 1942 and her retirement in 1980, she contributed artistically, philosophically, and pedagogically to the Studio Pottery Movement.

Within the ceramics field, Marguerite Wildenhain is an acknowledged master, as central to the understanding of 20th century pottery as Walter Gropius is to 20th century architecture.

Wildenhain was a major figure during the American Studio Pottery Movement’s formative years, providing a voice for American pottery on an international stage alongside the leading figures of the British Studio Pottery Movement and the Japanese Mingei Movement.

It was while living and working at Pond Farm that Wildenhain produced the bulk of her work, shaped the movement’s discourse, and taught students in her intensive and widely renowned “summer sessions,” which were important in introducing Bauhaus principles of form, technique, and artistry into American ceramics.

Pond Farm consists of three original buildings, the Barn/Studio, Wildenhain’s house, and a guesthouse and an 8-acre garden and landscape. The Barn/Studio retains the small, Bauhaus-style potters’ kick-wheels, which are still in operable condition.

 

 

 

 

 

In 2023, Pond Farm Pottery was designated a National Historic Landmark.

 

“The preservation of these historic sites doesn’t end the story but allows these places to inspire futur e generations to write their own story. We believe thissite will inspire artists, just like it inspired State Parks to expand our artist in residency programs at other parks through the Arts in California Parks program.”

—Armando Quintero, Director of California State Parks.

Read the full press release.